North Side Marketing Task Force Update...Mike Kestner Takes Johnny Northside To Task...

Somebody Took This Photo With My Camera

Last night I called Mike Kestner to inquire about the current status and composition of the North Side Marketing Task Force. Some questions had arisen in my mind and I needed to find somebody who would talk to me on the record. Mike was willing to talk on the record.

Mike says...

...there are currently only three official members of the task force: himself, Jerry Moore, and GeorgeAnnia Yantos. Mike says Jerry Moore is the Chair.

Well. Isn't that special. At least Mike will talk to me on the record. You gotta give him credit for that.

Here's a few more things Kestner was willing to say on the record, while I was scribbling down notes.

"You (Johnny Northside) do a great disservice to North Minneapolis," Kestner said. "As a native son to the Northside, I think it's naive to think there will be agreement about how things should be done, who should do it, and what's right and wrong."

Kestner proceeded to tell me I was being used politically by certain factions, and that I should stop painting certain people as bad characters. He said he was shocked that people get pulled into my blog and compared me, unfavorably, to the National Enquirer. He called Jerry Moore a "good human being." He said I (Johnny Northside) was being "played" by certain factions who have their own political agenda and that I would understand more if I stuck around for a while.

Oh, and then he called me (on the record, mind you) a "vicious and mean human being."

Uh huh. But at least he's TALKING to me about what is going on with the Northside Marketing Task Force, from his own unique point of view. And I always say that if I can't get information on the record I really can't do my job. Sometimes I need to say it louder than usual. Like right now.

So if anybody knows something else about the Task Force and its current composition and wants to say it oh-so-anonymously, well, consider the comment threads open. Which I think is pretty nice, considering I'm a mean and vicious human being comparable to the National Enquirer.